The Slow Food Movement was founded in 1986 by one Carlo Petrini, an Italian journalist who was enraged when a McDonald’s restaurant opened in the Piazza di Spagna in Rome. The Slow Food Movement, now with over 70,000 members – sometimes called slow foodies – in more than 40 countries, is an attempt to resist the encroachment of fast food and the ensuing homogenisation and globalisation of food production. Fast food is viewed as a threat to gastronomic individuality: ingredients, production, preparation and consumption of food should all relate to individual cultures and personal pleasure. The movement’s logo, appropriately a snail, represents an emphasis on traditional methods of preparing and consuming food, as ‘slowly’ as is necessary for premium quality and enjoyment.

The Slow Food Movement was founded in 1986 by one Carlo Petrini, an Italian journalist who was enraged when a McDonald’s restaurant opened in the Piazza di Spagna in Rome. The Slow Food Movement, now with over 70,000 members – sometimes called slow foodies – in more than 40 countries, is an attempt to resist the encroachment of fast food and the ensuing homogenisation and globalisation of food production. Fast food is viewed as a threat to gastronomic individuality: ingredients, production, preparation and consumption of food should all relate to individual cultures and personal pleasure. The movement’s logo, appropriately a snail, represents an emphasis on traditional methods of preparing and consuming food, as ‘slowly’ as is necessary for premium quality and enjoyment.